Lessons from the past, architecture for the future. Coupling historic preservation with sustainable architecture

[EN] Restoration of built heritage can serve not only to preserve historical documents of the past but also to provide models for new sustainable architecture. Vernacular and, more generally, historic architecture is by its nature sustainabile and resilient. It is largely the result of experience and acquired knowledge, and shows how local resources can be used in a thoughtful and rational way in new construction. For this reason, it can inspire low-energy solutions necessary to address the current climate crisis. Conservation projects, in their turn, allow us to analyze the fabric of historic buildings, to understand which materials were used, how they were transformed and assembled, and how they offered the best response to the needs of use and resistance to the elements and natural hazards. In this paper, conservation of traditionaly-built architecture and new sustainable architecture are discussed as two partners pursuing the common goal of reducing the effects of climate change. The author investigates the way conservation and analysis of historic buildings allows us to interpret the complex and articulated reality of regional architecture. By retrieving the  analysis of historic construction as a fundamental component for understanding architecture and adopting manual graphic records as a tool for expressing the complexity of the fabric of a building, it is possible to identify local building traditions and inspire new sustainable architecture.Vitti, P. (2022). Lessons from the past, architecture for the future. Coupling historic preservation with sustainable architecture. En Proceedings HERITAGE 2022 - International Conference on Vernacular Heritage: Culture, People and Sustainability. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 521-528. https://doi.org/10.4995/HERITAGE2022.2022.1564152152

Influence of iodization programmes on the epidemiology of nodular goitre

Iodine is essential for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Iodine deficiency can affect human health in different ways, and is commonly referred to as iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). These range from defective development of the central nervous system during the fetal-neonatal life, to goitre in the adult. Only a few countries were completely iodine sufficient before 1990. Since then, a major effort has been made to introduce salt iodization to ensure sufficient intake of iodine in deficient areas. Iodine prophylaxis has been shown to exert a pivotal role in abating goitre and other iodine-deficiency disorders, and has also been shown to modulate the pattern of thyroid diseases. An increased frequency of thyroid autoimmunity and of hypothyroidism has been observed after introducing iodization programmes. Nevertheless, available evidence clearly confirms that the benefits of correcting iodine deficiency, consisting mainly of reducing nodular goitre and non-autoimmune hyperthyroidism, far outweigh the risks of iodine supplementation

Un consolidamento antico con inzeppature metalliche in un paramento lapideo a Iasos (Caria)

This paper discusses a masonry strengthening on the wall of the Great bath building at Iasos in Caria. The analysis is based on the observation of a peculiar use of iron elements, inserted in the joints of a wall of the caldarium. The survey and the study of the wall has demonstrated that the facing of the wall separated from its core, probably due to an earthquake. The damage is likely to have occurred because of the big and heavy stones of the facing which were not bonded to the core of the wall. The use of iron wedges might have been an ideal solution for strengthening the wall without dismantling it.El artículo analiza una consolidación antigua en una pared de la gran terma en Iasos de Caria. El análisis se basa en la observación del uso inusual de elementos de hierro, insertados abundantemente en las juntas de una pared del caldarium. La inspección y estudio de las características constructivas del muro permitieron identificar un deterioro del revestimiento. Este último, formado por grandes y pesados bloques apenas esbozados y no unidos al núcleo del muro, se desprendió quizás por efecto de un terremoto. El uso de la cuña de hierro para crear contraste entre las piedras de un paramento constituía una solución óptima para consolidar la mampostería sin tener que desmontar todo el revestimiento. [it] L’articolo analizza un consolidamento antico su una parete delle grandi terme a Iasos di Caria. L’analisi si basa sull’osservazione dell’impiego inconsueto di elementi di ferro, inseriti in abbondanza nei giunti di una parete del caldarium. Il rilievo e lo studio delle caratteristiche costruttive del muro hanno condotto all’identificazione di un dissesto del paramento. Quest’ultimo, formato da grandi e pesanti blocchi appena sbozzati e non ammorsati al nucleo della muratura in conglomerato, si distaccò forse per effetto di un terremoto. L’impiego di zeppe di ferro per creare contrasto tra le pietre di un paramento dissestato, costituiva una soluzione ottimale per consolidare la muratura senza dover smontare l’intero paramento

Iodine, thyroid autoimmunity and cancer

This review focuses on two different topics: (a) iodine and autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and (b) AITD and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Iodine intake modifies the expression of thyroid diseases and has been associated with induction of AITD. Thyroglobulin (Tg) is an important target in iodine-induced autoimmune response due to post-translational modifications of iodinated Tg, as suggested in animal models. We have shown that the unmasking of a cryptic epitope on Tg contributes to iodine-induced thyroid autoimmunity in humans. The relationship between AITD and PTC has been suggested in many studies. The presence of two different mechanisms has been hypothesized, one typical of AITD and the other of an immune reaction to PTC. We have shown that in AITD, the pattern of Tg recognition by anti-Tg antibodies (TgAb) is 'restricted' to the immunodominant regions of Tg, while in patients with non-AITD, such as nodular goiter and PTC devoid of thyroid lymphocytic infiltration at histology, TgAb show a less restricted epitopic pattern and bind also to other regions of Tg. Thyroid function may also affect the frequency of PTC, the risk of cancer increasing with serum TSH levels. We have shown that this mechanism, rather than thyroiditis per se, plays a major role in the association of PTC with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, as a consequence of the autoimmune process leading to a progressive increase of serum TSH in these patients

Iodine deficiency disorders in Europe

AbstractIodine deficiency disorders (IDD) are related to the degree of iodine deficiency. In european countries, characterized by mild to moderate iodine deficiency, neurological deficits or minor neuropsychological impairments have been described. Urinary iodine excretion (UIE) ranged from 30 to 170 mcg/L, 141 millions of people were at risk of IDD, 97 millions were affected by goiter and 0.9 millions had an impaired mental development.Iodine prophylaxis is devoid of adverse reactions with the exception of sporadic cases of transitory hyperthyroidism, associated to the severity of iodine deficiency before the prophylaxis. The International Council for Control of IDD recommends an universal iodine prophylaxis, instituted gradually in severe iodine deficient countries. The total cost of universal iodine prophylaxis is very cheap compared to the social cost of goiter and cretinism.In conclusion, most european countries are still characterized by mild to moderate iodine deficiency. Iodine prophylaxis programs are already operating, its cost is irrelevant with respect to the undebatable beneficial impact on the health. Adverse effects are not observed except in severe iodine deficient areas where iodine intake was abruptly increased

Virtual corrections to gg→ZHgg\to ZH via a transverse momentum expansion

We compute the next-to-leading virtual QCD corrections to the partonic cross section of the production of a Higgs boson in association with a $Z$ boson in gluon fusion. The calculation is based on the recently introduced method of evaluating the amplitude via an expansion in terms of a small transverse momentum. We generalize the method to the case of different masses in the final state and of a process not symmetric in the forward-backward direction exchange. Our analytic approach gives a very good approximation (better than percent) of the partonic cross section in the center of mass energy region up to $\sim 750 \,\textrm{GeV}$, where at the LHC $\sim 98\%$ of the total hadronic cross section is concentrated.Comment: 21 pages, 3 Figures and 1 Tabl

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Role of Thyroglobulin, Neck Ultrasound, Thyroglobulin Antibodies Trend and Diagnostic Whole Body Scan in the Management of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Patients with Persistent Thyroglobulin Antibodies

Background: During the follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer patients, the presence of thyroglobulin antibodies makes thyroglobulin measurements unreliable. For this reason, thyroglobulin antibodies measurement and the evaluation of their titer trend are also recommended. Objective: We aimed to identify the best method among stimulated thyroglobulin, thyroglobulin antibodies titer trend, neck ultrasound and diagnostic whole body scan for detecting the presence of disease in a group of differentiated thyroid cancer patients with thyroglobulin antibodies. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 212 consecutive differentiated thyroid cancer patients with thyroglobulin antibodies referred to us between 2005 and 2007 for performing a diagnostic whole body scan. All patients were evaluated during the first two years after the initial treatment. Results: Diagnostic whole body scan sensitivity and specificity in detecting persistent diseases were 70% and 72%, respectively. Diagnostic whole body scan alone had the best positive and negative predictive values (93% and 32%, respectively). A low sensitivity and specificity (56% and 10%, respectively) for increasing or stable thyroglobulin antibodies titer trends were also identified. A good compromise between sensitivity and specificity was obtained when diagnostic whole body scan, stimulated thyroglobulin and neck ultrasound were combined without considering thyroglobulin antibodies trend evaluations (82% and 45%, respectively). Conclusions: Diagnostic whole body scan plays an important role in detecting persistent disease in differentiated thyroid cancer patients with thyroglobulin antibodies, both alone and in association with other methods. However, its low negative predictive value suggests that when a suspicious persistent disease is present, the use of other imaging methods, such as computed tomography scan or FDG-positron emission computed tomography, is recommended. Finally, from this study, it appears that the thyroglobulin antibodies titer trend does not add any useful information about the disease status in the first two years after initial treatment

'Incidental' and 'non-incidental' thyroid papillary microcarcinomas are two different entities

Papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (microPTC) may be 'incidental' (Inc-microPTC), occasionally found at histology after surgery for benign disease or 'non-incidental' (Non-Inc-microPTC), diagnosed on clinical grounds. It is unclear whether these different microPTC reflect the same disease. The aim of the study was to compare Inc-microPTC and Non-Inc-microPTC for clinical and histological features as well as for serum TSH, a known factor involved in PTC development

Identification of two distinct molecular subtypes by digital RNA counting of "non-invasive follicular tumour with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP)"

Backgound. The follicular variant (FV) is one of the most common variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Clinically, the FVPTC is considered a low-risk variant of PTC, and the encapsulated forms of FVPTC represent a group of thyroid tumours with an overall good prognosis. Consequently, these neoplasms were very recently reclassified as "non-invasive follicular tumour with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP)". From a molecular standpoint, NIFTP appears similar to the follicular pattern thyroid neoplasm; however, limited data are currently available regarding their gene expression profile